Hulu will soon offer downloadable content, both with and without ads

Hulu announced that it would soon offer downloadable content for offline viewing.

Details on the feature are scarce, but we assume it will be similar to Netflix’s downloadable content feature.

Hulu also announced a large jump in subscribers so far this year.

During the Hulu 18 Presentation in New York City, the media streaming service announced its past successes and future plans. One of those plans is something that Hulu subscribers have wanted for a long time now: the ability to download content to watch offline at another time.

While Hulu did not commit to a specific date for the release of this new feature, it promised that it would land sometime in the “2018 – 2019 upfront season.”

Hulu currently offers two subscription plans: “No Commercials” for $11.99 per month and “Limited Commercials” for $7.99 per month. Subscribers of either plan will be able to download movies and TV shows for offline viewing, but ad-supported subscribers will have non-skippable ads inserted into that offline content.

The company’s press release doesn’t say which devices and platforms will support offline viewing.

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Hulu’s biggest competitor Netflix started offering downloadable content in 2016. However, with Netflix, there is certain content you cannot download for offline viewing. It is unclear if Hulu’s service will have the same limitation or if the fact that the programs will have ad support will make it so that users can download all Hulu content.

In other Hulu news, the company announced that premium engagement with the service is up 60 percent this year and that three million subscribers joined since January 2018, bringing the company’s subscriber count to 20 million. For reference, Netflix last reported 55 million active subscribers.

Hulu also revealed that 78 percent of Hulu viewing takes place in the living room on connected televisions. This means that a relatively small percentage of subscribers use mobile devices to view Hulu content. This lines up closely with Netflix, which reported this year that 70 percent of Netflix viewers watch the service on a connected TV.

You can read Hulu’s full report here, which includes news about its runaway success series The Handmaid’s Tale and new series from horror icons Blumhouse called Into the Dark.